Motorola RAZR V3
Phone Scoop Review
Jul 11, 2005 by Eric Lin
In-depth review of Motorola's iconic RAZR V3 high-end clamshell GSM phone for Cingular and T-Mobile. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
great looking phone
I finally got to handle a V3 the other day. Though my experience with it's use is limited, I can tell you that it is as attractive a phone as I have ever seen. Much has been said about the cost of the phone, yet it is still not available at a normal retail setting in my area, and to my knowledge has not been released yet by Cingular. Clearly, Motorola has not intended, or marketed this phone for use by 9th graders, so they can text message each other across the movie theater during an Adam Sandler flick. The phone LOOKS expensive and says something about the person using it. The phone SHOULD be expensive. Moto wants it that way. It's why men of means choose a Porsche 911 over a 5.0 Mustang, and why women of means choose Sterling silver flatware over stainless steel. Much of what this phone is about is art and style. It just so happens to also have just about every other conceivable feature know to the cellular world. I will buy this phone when it becomes available at the Cingular store in my area, and I will post a hands-on review after I have become familiar with it. In that review, I may slam the phone for it's performance or annoying feature or something ... but I will not whine about the price, or the color of the display, or any other painfully obvious features that I knew about prior to making the purchase. I commend Motorola on the artistic front, for building a phone with styling which is more sophisticated than that of a Nike sneaker, and for including numerous technological advances in a package that is NOT like all the other plastic Japanese phones out there.
great if all you need is a phone
I've had a Treo now for over 2 years- first the 600 and now the 650. I love the fact that I can do just about anything with that phone. With the V3 though all you have is a phone. Now, it can do other things, like photos, but it's not a smartphone and doesn't pretend to be. Sound quality is great, and the speakerphone is awesome. Unlike the Treo, I'm not at all worried carrying it my pocket (couldn't do that with the Treo's screen) and it's so much easier to hold in your hand. And light!
Now I will admit the Treo has addicted me to smartphones. I intend to get the new Moto Q when it comes out next year, but keep the V3 as a seperate line. When I need just a phone I can grab the V3 and run! If I'm somewhere needing more options, or the ability to surf to virtually any web site I want, then I'll take the Q. The only downside of the Q is the Windows Mobile format (if you're used to Palm instead).
If you're a mobile professional, the V3 will leave you wanting. If you just need a mobile phone and have little need for perks, the V3 beats everything with it's ease of use, great sound, and superb portability.
PROS: Small, great sound, good reception, Bluetooth allows dial-up networking for mobile internet connections to your Bluetooth-enabled laptop, easy to carry, GSM allows world roaming
CONS: Non-phone features somewhat inconvenient to access, can't access most internet sites, limited email capability
Its a great phone
I love this phone. Compared to some of the other phones i have on the cingular network, this one picks up the best reception in the most places. Only thing that i don't like about it is that it wouldn't record video, but besides that, the casing is strong, the keypad is very unique, and the display screen is large and full of color. Oh yea, i don't like when you close the phone that you have to wipe the screen off because the keypad leaves a streak on it, but it's nothing major. I think this phone is great, not $500 great, but still great.
Back in black? Or just crap?
I've worked for AT&T Wireless for a number of years for a division of National Business Services. Needless to say, I've had my share of experience with phones. Hands-on, with sales, before I got to the call center; more technical once I got in the call center.
I just recently purchased two v3's on a new account at a local store with Cingular. A black, and a silver. Upon initial inspection of the devices, they are completely the same. I'll admit, however, I was ignorant to the differences at first. The black is definitely not worth the money.
Black cons:
1) Yes, fingerprints everywhere. I even try washing my hands every chance I get.
2)The material the case is made out of is much more porous than the silver, even more exacerbating the problem with prints.
3)The weight is the same within a few hundredths of an ounce, however the silver seems much more solid. Take my word for it.
4)Even the keys, which reside on a flat pad, have no depth. Using the silver, I notice they they really do have a nub in the middle of each button, distinguishing one from the next, even in the dark.
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The best I can figure: Cingular had Motorola slap together a device that wasn't ready for release, but most people wouldn't notice the difference. Reminiscent of the MPX200, which was a horrible phone. The MPX220 was everything its predecessor was not. I've done a little more research, and looked at the silver's from different stores to arrive at this conclusion, and I'm not lying.
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Helpful advice for others, however. Try powering your phone off completely for five minutes if you do any traveling within 8 miles. It allows your SIM to reconnect with the location registries (HLR/VLR). Translating into good service when it seems there is none!
As far as the video phone: The wonderful thing about this phone is that you can actually purchase software that can be installed via USB to convert it into a phone that can capture video. Google some research up.
love the phone
I have a cell phone store. I used to think the razr was a gimmick phone. i sell t mobile and they finally got a branded v3 model. i tried it out and i am loving it.
-speaker is great
bluetooth goes further than some of the other phones i have had.
the video capture is AWESOME!!!! I love the sound and pic quality. It could be longer but i like it anyway.
the only con is that the battery needs to be recharged a lot, i guess that is b/c of all the features.
I push this phone at my job and recomend it to all.
LOVE THE RAZR!!!!!!!!
I can hear you now!!!!!!!
It is about time that I can now hear people I call....and I got a couple nice new Razr phones to hear them with. My wife and I were previously with Verizon and that was the worst 17 months of my cell phone life experience. I went through 5 different model phones with Verizon and she went through 3 different ones and we always had the same poor reception and dropped calls problems. I live about an hour southwest of Chicago but certainly not in the sticks were you would expect these types of problems.
Ok, now that I got that out of my system on the the Razr! Great phone. Tons of cool stuff, great looking (I got the Black Razr, she got the silver). The reception is awesome....5 bars everywhere I go. Camera works good in the right light. I have not played with the video capture but I plan to. I love the true tones you can send to the phone. Bye Bye polyphonic!
Pros:
Looks great
Awesome reception
Decent Camera
Keypad is well lit and cool looking
Ringer/picture ID with outside LCD
Customize your own ring tones
Overall just a cool phone!
Con:
Only one....menu is a bit tricky but that is because I am just used to LG and Samsung menus.....so I will get used to this new style in time.
I would certainly recommend this phone to anyone! And the cost is finally down with a 2 year contract through Cingular we only paid $150 per phone. Alot better than some people who have paid upwards of $500!
I like it!
I am giving it a 5. Why you ask?
I tend to be realistic about theses things.
First off I got it for free from Wirefly.com $169.99 with a $170.00 rebate. I swtiched from verizon and made the plunge. YES I will say Verizon's signal is way stronger so far. (1 week).
Pros: Great shape. thin in pocket but when out and talking it is long so it feels like your holding a phone to your ear.
METAL. it is so strong feeling
Bright screen.
Pretty easy to use.
Bluetooth
Pretty good battery life.
CONS: Reception could be better but their is no external ant. so I like that too.
No Video capture.
Look, I would never have paid $400.00 for this phone, maybe not even the current $200.00 price tag. but for free with rebate it was a steal and worth the switch from verizon. I like it alot so far. It is not as easy to use software wise than my LG VX7000 was. But, I think we get used to any phone once we have had it for a couple of weeks.. I say try it if you like the way it looks and feels the other stuff is worth any sacrafice.. It does not feel like I have a brick in my pocket like other phones. but again is big enough to feel like a phone on your cheek.. works for me.
Nice phone, bad service
I had Verizon for 2 years in Atlanta and switched to Cingular and got the Razor cause the phone was just so sweet. I had a VX6000 with Verizon. Its my first phone with bluetooth, and I have to say, bluetooth is great. More phones should have this. Loved using the headset. However, the reception just wasnt close to Verizon's. I figured with their purchase of AT&T, it would be good. It wasnt. I dropped calls in my apartment some of the time. I dropped calls on highway 400, up on 75 and many places where I travel thats off the main areas of Atlanta. I travel alot so reception is important. I kept getting a all circuits are busy alot of time during rush hour trying to use my "free" mobile to mobile minutes. After 5 minutes of not being able to make a call one time, I was pretty pissed so I tried calling 911!! Guess what, all circuits are busy now! Unbelievable! I had the phone for 18 days and each passing day the dropped calls and other issues that I wasnt used to having, kept getting on my nerves to the point that I returned it. I had to throughly go through the reasons with customer service so I didnt get charged a deactivation fee. I switched back to Verizon and switching my number both times was easy, so no problem there. I got the V710 for $250, half the price of the Razor. My old 6000 had decent service in my girlfriends apartment, but this phone gets twice that. The 710 has bluetooth, so I was able to use the same headset. To summarize, I was going to be saving $15 a month with Cingular with having a cool phone, but having better reception and overall service, being able to make calls when I want, was MUCH more important. Verizon is consistenly rated number 1 for reception and service by everyone, now I see how and why Verizon is the leader for overall satisfaction. Plus, the 710 is basically like the Razor, just a little thicker.
Bluetooth setup and functionality on the 2005 E46
This past weekend I bought a Motorola RAZR V3 for the sole reason that it is on BMWâs list of cell phones that work with their Bluetooth hands-free system on my 2005 330Ci w/BMW assist, no Navigation System).
I figured Iâd try to put this info into one post to make it easier for those who came here searching for it like I did.
The V3 synced painlessly with the car.
I turned the ignition to position 2 (ignition on, car not started), then I followed the instructions for my phone to setup a Bluetooth connection. (pg 23 in the V3âs manual).
I activated the Bluetooth functionality on the phone by turning the Bluetooth power on in the phoneâs setup menu. (on the V3: Settings> Connection> Bluetooth Link> Setup> Power > On â Bluetooth will be on whenever the phone is on)
Next, I used the phoneâs setup menu to tell the phone to look for Bluetooth devices. (on the V3: Settings> Connection> Bluetooth Link> Handsfree > [Look For Devices]
The phone found the car within seconds. The phone then requested that I enter the Bluetooth passcode. I entered the passcode found on the Bluetooth Passkey card that came in the ownerâs manual pack with my car (the 4 digit code labeled PK). I doubt the code is different on other cars since my 4 digit PK code is 5678.
Once the code was entered, the address book transferred to my car within 5- 10 minutes. The radio display said âdownloading phonebookâ during the initial address book load.
Once the phonebook loaded, the phone synced with the car whenever I turned the car on.
If you make changes to your phoneâs phonebook, the changes will automatically be sent to your carâs Bluetooth system. However, patience is required!
can't beat the size
u can't get features like this in a smaller package. I've had a razr since November last year, and i love it! Awesome signal, good battery life, good speakerphone, i like the informative outside display. Moto's OS is getting better, but they still have a long way to go: Phone book is clunky - 1 number per entry, cannot search for multiple letters (just a, not al)
video capture or better camera would be nice, but remember this is a compact phone, not a digital camera. Get the sonyE s710a if u want more of a CAMERAphone
